The AFL Commission is set for the biggest shake-up in decades, with new AFL chairman Craig Drummond to oversee the introduction of term limits that would see up to half of the AFL’s 10-member board exit relatively soon.
Drummond, the former Geelong president and chairman of Transurban, has revealed his plans to introduce term limits as part of major reform of the AFL’s governance. He suggested that eight to 10-year limits for commission members would be introduced, but that their exits would need to be staggered somewhat.
The reform – which will also see changes in the way the AFL Commission is elected – requires a change in the AFL’s constitution, which needs the endorsement of three quarters of the 18 existing clubs.
Unlike several clubs, the AFL has never had term limits for their own powerful, heavily corporate board.
Drummond said the reforms to the commission would be discussed at their meeting in Sydney on Friday, as he laid out his fan and growth-centred plans and ambition for the game in a frank interview with this masthead on Friday.
If the league adopts Drummond’s proposal – and commission members have already been informed of the ex-Medibank Private CEO’s revolutionary plan – four of the commission members would be slated to leave, and potentially five, depending on the term limits.
Paul Bassat (joined 2012), Simone Wilkie (2015), ex-Hawthorn president Andrew Newbold (2016), Gabrielle Trainor (2016) have all had 10 years on the AFL’s governing body, while former Macquarie Bank boss Robin Bishop joined in 2017.
The ex-footballers on the commission, Andrew Ireland and Matt de Boer, are early in their tenures, as is the league’s Indigenous commission member Denise Bowden.
“Historically, if you look at them in corporates, term limits typically are between eight to 10 years, and I think that’s sort of where I would [land],” said Drummond, who took over from Richard Goyder as AFL chairman.
“And you might say, ‘Well why?’, and I say, ‘Well, OK, firstly it forces new blood, forces new views, and I think, to be frank, if you can’t make a real impact in eight to 10 years, then you’re not trying.”
Drummond said “three or four maybe” commissioners would change soon. “There’ll need to be a little bit of a transition, but not a lot … but there will be a lot of change, yep.”
He said the process for electing new commission members also would change, with a new nominations committee of presidents and commission members. “I’ll be chair of that committee,” he added.
Drummond also said the clubs would make a recommendation on who should join the commission. “I think we should be listening if the clubs collectively want individual A, B, C, D, E and F – then there’d need to be a good reason why the commission chairman said no,” he explained.
Drummond also has vowed to improve succession planning on the AFL Commission, which was criticised by clubs for the failure to have a successor to Goyder on the commission, leading to a factionalised battle to succeed him.
In other revelations from the man at the helm of the AFL, Drummond said:
*While the commission was set for significant change and reform, he had no plans for major change to the current AFL executive, headed by Andrew Dillon, and supported by new senior executives Tom Harley and Greg Swann. “No, I’m not expecting any significant change in the executive.”
*The fans would be his priority, along with growing interest in a game that was not embraced much by many of the one in three Australians born overseas, in particular the Indian and Chinese communities.
“The main priorities for me will be to focus on the fan,” Drummond said, with a focus on not increasing ticket pricing in “a challenging environment” reflecting that goal.
*The new chairman had taken the step of going into the crowd to speak to rank-and-file fans at every game he attended.
“I think [at] 28 or 29 of the games so far this year that I’ve been to, in the second half I go out into the crowd, [and] speak to the punter. I’ve spoken to probably a couple of hundred people in the crowd, and that’s just to get feedback.”
*The AFL was “150 per cent committed” to GWS remaining in Sydney, but the connection to new fans in western Sydney had not been good enough.
“I think the footy program has been good. I think the corporate and commercial piece has been very good. I think the consumer engagement has not been great, and I’ve just been completely frank. So we’ve got work to do. And let me be unequivocal … we’re 100, we’re 150 per cent committed to the Giants in Sydney.”
Drummond said he had not seen a proposal yet on the nature of any name change to the Giants, whose chairman Tim Reed floated a potential name change. He said the league would want to see evidence and data on a new name.
“Show us the data, show us the facts, and we’ll then make a call.”
*The AFL could have performed better on some issues this year, but felt that there was a tendency for clubs and others to focus on negatives in the AFL when the audiences were strong and the games themselves had been high quality.
“If you think about some of the issues, and without naming them, we probably could have done a slightly better job. So there, I think there is some merit [in criticism], but equally … there’s bit of a focus on a lot of our stakeholders to focus on the negative, because I say we’re looking at crowds up, broadcast up, [and] the quality of the games that we are seeing is extraordinary.”
*The AFL was clearly the number one sport in the nation and took aim at rugby league boss Peter V’landys on the NRL’s claims to that mantle.
“It is still by far the number one sport in the country, if you look at almost all the metrics,” the AFL chairman said of Australian rules.
On V’landys’ claim, Drummond said: “Well, I’m not sure what stats he’s using. He can’t just use one game and say that that one game is, you know, it’s had more people watching it.”
*The lack of participation in the game from some multicultural communities, the Indian and Chinese diasporas in particular, was a big issue. “One in three people in this country were not born here, and we do not connect with them,” he said.
Drummond called western Sydney “the canary in the coal mine” for the AFL because one in two people there were born overseas.
“50 per cent of Australia is going to be in that ‘not born in Australia Sport / AFL’ in 20 years’ time. And so our game will be under downward pressure if we don’t [engage].”
*Implored fans of Carlton and Essendon to hang in there and keep faith in their teams after two decades of mainly struggle.
“I’d say, stick with them. There’s a lot of good young players on both those lists, and yes, they’re going through challenging times, and I feel … given the injury toll that Essendon in particular, has had, particularly last year and to a lesser extent this year … they have got some really good young talent.”
*The draft bidding system changes for father-sons and academies – which incensed Carlton, Essendon and Port Adelaide – had to be made at some point. “I understand people are disappointed … at some point, you know, we had to make the change”.
*International expansion was on his agenda. “It’s a game I think [that has] got opportunity to be distributed globally in select markets.” The USA was one such market, he said.
Drummond nominated Collingwood’s Nick Daicos as the game’s best player, ahead of Dogs champion Marcus Bontempelli.
Jake Niall is a Walkley award-winning sports journalist and chief AFL writer for The Age.Connect via X or email.
